LANSING — Tonight, House Democrats voted to protect the earned health care benefits of Michigan’s retired first responders. Last week, hundreds of police officers and firefighters rallied against proposals which could have gutted health care for local heroes. Today, the recommendation of House Democrats to implement the reforms of the bipartisan Responsible Retirement Reform for Local Government Task Force was accepted. While these benefits are now protected, communities in the state continue to struggle with chronic underfunding of local budgets. In response, state Rep. Patrick Green (D-Warren) issued the following statement:
“We did the right thing tonight by addressing the financial issues many local governments face by adopting the recommendations in the report issued by the governor’s Responsible Retirement Reform for Local Government Task Force. These reasonable reforms will aid local officials as they work to put their communities on solid financial ground while ensuring that police, firefighters, other first responders and municipal employees all receive the retirement benefits and health care that they’ve earned and deserve. This was the sensible thing to do, and I am proud to cast my vote for these reforms.”